THE STONE THE BUILDERS REJECTED
"The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone..." 1 Peter 2:7Christ was rejected by His generation. He was rejected in the Garden of Eden. ("Was Christ the God of the Old Testament".) In fact, many in Christ's generation were coming nigh to the unpardonable sin. They had to know who He was and they hated Him and anyone who stood with Him. Adam and Eve must have come close to the unpardonable sin because they knew that they had rejected God. They were not ignorant of what they did. Christ admonished His disciples that if they were hated, to remember that the world hated Him first.
John 15:18-19
"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you." If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.It is hard to be hated. One of our weakest points is that we want people to like us. Humanly, we all want love---not rejection. The cruelest thing you can do to someone is to reject and shun them. But a true Christian will indeed suffer rejection like Christ did. Christ said, "Take up your cross and follow me." He made that statement after Peter rebuked Him. Peter thought there was going to be a Hollywood ending in regard to the situation with the occupying Romans. He thought that Christ would establish the Kingdom of God immediately and God would remove the Romans, and that they would get their country back. He didn't understand God's way of working things out. He savored the things of men.
Mark 8:31-9:1 says, "And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32 And he spoke that saying openly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
33 But when he had turned about and looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
If you are a commandment keeper and a true Christian, men already hate you and exclude you and insult your name as evil because you worship Christ. This speaking evil of you happens more than you know. But God knows and He keeps score. Every time it happens you get a blessing that will result in treasure in heaven. You never hear the worst of the things people say about you...thankfully. But you will receive a big blessing because of it.
BLESSINGS
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
"But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. Luke 6:20-26
He is speaking of spiritual hunger, spiritual poverty. We know this because in another place, Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." We should have a deep hunger for righteousness, because we don't have any of our own. In another place Christ said, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit." To be spiritually poor is to have a spirit of meekness and an absence of pride. The meek will inherit the earth. We are low now, we are on the bottom now. On the outside looking in, but in the coming Kingdom of God it will change, we will be a royal priesthood and we will rule with Jesus Christ the cornerstone of Zion.Just as Christ was God's High Priest, we will be the High Priests of Jesus Christ. High in the government of God. Part of a Kingdom that will have no end, that will expand and grow forever. To be right under the one that rules the universe is a very high calling...not one to be neglected. If we have any weaknesses, we need to be working on them, we don't have unlimited time. In fact the 7 weeks counted off in the Feast of First Fruits symbolizes the limited time that the First Fruits have to qualify as a member of the God family and to be one of the saints that rule with Christ when He restores the Kingdom of God on this earth.
"See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
"The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone," and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.1 Peter 2:6-10
THE (CAP) STONE THE BUILDERS REJECTED
Copyrighted by the Churches of God 2008 www.thechurchesofgod.com/